The Sound of Blue Collar Detroit

Essential Question

How did Rock and Roll serve as an expressive tool for the working-class youth of Detroit?

Overview

Like a stout heart within the city is Detroit industry, the vital pulse beat of technology and resources, which has put the world on wheels. Detroit’s strategic location, its reservoir of know-how, its ability to deliver manpower, places it in the vanguard of choice spots in which to build, manufacture, and expand.

— Promotional film for the city of Detroit, 1965

They were down river boys. They were guys who lived in the disused parts of Detroit, the industrial parts. And really, when you grew up in Detroit in those areas, you had one of two ways to go. College wasn’t the option. It was usually, were you gonna work the [assembly] line, or were you gonna work in a tool and die shop, and how many fingers were you gonna lose by the end of your career?

– Musician David Was on the band MC5

Few places represented the prosperity of the postwar United States and the allure of the American dream better than Detroit in the 1950s and early 60s. Home of the thriving American auto industry, Detroit and its legendary assembly lines reflected the nation’s command of industry and its international economic dominance. But for many of the thousands of young people growing up in Detroit’s blue-collar neighborhoods, the city was less about progress and prosperity than the prospect of a life with few options beyond the monotony of a factory job.

As happened in so many other contexts, the young people of Detroit in the postwar era turned to music to express their frustrations and to challenge society’s expectations for them. Bands such as MC5 and the Stooges eschewed the feel-good music long associated with Detroit through the success of Motown, producing instead a hard-edged, proto-Punk sound that managed to address both the limitations of working-class life and the general frustrations of youth.

Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, students will:

Know (knowledge):

The importance of Detroit and the auto industry to the postwar American economy

The efforts of working-class musicians, including the members of MC5 and the Stooges, to challenge prevailing views about life amidst the auto industry and give voice to the frustrations of working-class youth

Be able to (skills):

Trace musical expression to the social and economic context in which it was created

Procedure:

What image of the city does the video project? What words come to mind?

How does the video use music to create a particular impression about Detroit?

According to the video, what was the prosperity of Detroit built upon in the mid-1960s?

What was the main industry in Detroit at this time? (The instructor may wish to refer students back to the narrator’s explanation at the beginning of the clip that Detroit “has put the world on wheels,” as well as to the shots of the headquarters of Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford.)

2. Play the short clip of the 1984 song “Hello, Detroit,” by Sammy Davis Jr., and discuss:

What is the overall mood of the song?

How does the song’s image of Detroit compare with the image presented by the promotional video?

Ask students why Berry Gordy might have been a Detroit “booster.” (Note to instructor: Inform the students that the song was co-written by Gordy, the man behind Detroit’s Motown Records, home of the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and many more.)

Is the sound of the song in any way similar to that of “High School”? If so, in what way(s)?

Does the song have a similar message to that of “High School”? In what way(s)? Be as specific as you can.

What happens musically in this clip? Does the sound change or develop much? How might the sound reflect what is being said in the lyrics?

Overall, what ideas do you think the band is trying to express in this song?

5. Play the second short clip from the documentary Motor City’s Burning, of the Stooges’ Iggy Pop explaining his musical influences, and discuss:

What did Iggy Pop find so impressive about the machine at the Ford Rouge plant? What did it represent to him?

Why would a band want to imitate this sound? Would someone who feels powerful in his or her everyday life be likely to feel the need to express him or herself this way?

What kind of person would say — or what kind of experiences would lead someone to want to say — “to hell with all this finery”?

How did the music of the Stooges and MC5 reflect that the residents of Detroit are “tough people”?

Summary Activity:

Discuss with the class as a whole:

How did the music of the Stooges and MC5 reflect the band members’ working-class backgrounds?

Writing Prompt:

If you had grown up in Detroit in the 1960s and had to pick one of the songs in this lesson to represent the city, which would you choose – “Hello Detroit,” “High School,” or “1969,” and why?

Extensions:

Have students research MC5’s affiliation with radical politics in Detroit, which grew substantially after the city’s experience with widespread riots in 1967. The band joined the “White Panther Party,” a leftist group co-founded in the Detroit area by their manager, poet/activist John Sinclair. The White Panther Party issued a ten-point manifesto in 1968, whose platform included the demand to “Free all schools and all structures from corporate rule — turn the buildings over to the people at once!” and “Free the people from their phony “leaders” — everyone must be a leader — freedom means free every one! All Power to the People!” Students should compare and contrast the vision of the group to that of the Black Panther Party, which in 1966 had issued its own ten-point program (discussed in the lesson “The Message of Social Soul”). (Note: Instructors should preview the White Panther Party platform, which includes profanity as well as references to drug use and sexual activity, to decide whether it is appropriate for their students.)

Show the entire 2008 BBC documentary Motor City’s Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges, to further explore the Detroit music scene of the 1960s. The film contrasts the success of Motown with that of MC5, the Stooges, and other artists in this period. Instructors should preview the film to decide if it is appropriate for their students, as it contains profanity and numerous references to drug use and sexual activity.

Both MC5 and the Stooges are considered “proto-Punk” bands that heavily influenced the Punk Rock movement that would gain popularity in the late 1970s. Students should analyze the degree to which the sound of these bands, as well as their emphasis on expressing the anger of working-class youth, helped lay the groundwork for the Punk Rock movement.

Handouts

Standards

New Jersey State Standards

New Jersey State Learning Standards for English Language Arts: Reading

NJSLSA.R1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences and relevant connections from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

New Jersey State Learning Standards for English Language Arts: Writing

NJSLSA.W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

New Jersey State Learning Standards for English Language Arts: Speaking and Listening

NJSLSA.SL1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

New York State Standards

New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning StandardsReading Anchor Standards

Key Ideas and Details

Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Writing Anchor Standards

Text Types and Purposes

Standard 5: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Speaking and Listening

Comprehension and Collaboration

Standard 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners; express ideas clearly and persuasively, and build on those of others.

Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Literacy 6-12 Anchor Standards for Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Standard 7: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Texas State Standards

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for ELA & Reading

Make inference about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

Summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and across texts.

Make intertextual links among and across texts, including other media (e.g. film, play, music) and provide textual evidence.

Make complex inference about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies

Culture: The student understands the relationship that exists between the arts and the societies in which they are produced. The student expects to:

Explain the relationships that exist between societies and their architecture, art, music, and literature.

Relate ways in which contemporary expressions of culture have been influenced by the past.

Analyze the causes and effects of economic differences among different regions of the United States at selected times in U.S. History.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine and Performing Arts

Historical and cultural relevance: The student relates music to history, culture, and the world. The student is expected to: Identify relationships of concepts to other academic disciplines such as the relations between music and mathematics, literature, history, and the sciences.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Music

(5) Historical and cultural relevance. The student relates music to history, culture, and the world. The student is expected to:

(A) compare and contrast music by genre, style, culture, and historical period;

(B) define uses of music in societies and cultures;

(C) identify and explore the relationships between music and other academic disciplines;

(E) identify and explore the impact of technologies, ethical issues, and economic factors on music, musicians, and performances.

Common Core State Standards

College and Career Readiness Reading Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 for Literature and Informational Text

Reading 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

College and Career Readiness Writing Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects

Writing 9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening for Grades 6-12

Speaking and Listening 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

Theme 1: Culture

Theme 3: People, Places, and Environments

Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity

Theme 7: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

National Standards for Music Education

Core Music Standard: Responding

Select: Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context.

Analyze: Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response.

Interpret: Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’ and/or performers’ expressive intent.

Evaluate: Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.

Core Music Standard: Connecting

Connecting 11: Relate musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.

National Core Arts Standards

Responding

Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.

Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

Connecting

Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.